01224 212128 enquiries@optima.scot

Who We Are

Optima Financial Services Ltd is an independent financial advisory firm located in Aberdeen with a history stretching back from 1990.

We are advice-led and operate on a fee basis. We have been awarded Corporate Chartered Financial Planner status and are members of the Society of Pensions Consultants reflecting the breadth of senior specialist qualifications held by the directors and staff. We pride ourselves on the integrity of the advice and solutions provided and this is reflected by the duration of many of the client relationships.

The large majority of our new clients are introduced by other professional concerns such as accountants, lawyers, investment managers and HR consultants or by referral from existing clients.

What we do

We provide financial planning advice to individuals, trusts and corporate clients.

The service provided to individuals includes personal retirement planning, pension benefit commencement, investment and estate planning.

The service provided to trusts includes investment advice, cashflow management and often employee benefit services.

Employee benefit advice to companies and partnerships and charities includes group pension provision and the commonly provided associated staff benefit arrangements. We also provide advice in further specialist areas which includes pension and retirement planning for directors and partners

How we do it

The services are provided via specialist teams supporting the respective areas of Personal Financial Planning and Employee Benefit Services. Each client has a dedicated adviser and personal service team consisting of usually two or three qualified and experienced staff available to assist. This approach provides continuity and the in-depth coverage which clients benefit from and appreciate.

We have and will continue to invest heavily in market leading systems and specialist support to deliver services to our clients.

Clients are provided with meeting notes detailing agreed actions and for larger exercises we adopt a project management based approach to delivering the agreed outcomes.

We always look for opportunities to work with a clients other advisers where this can deliver enhanced and better co-ordinated outcomes for a client.

Personal Financial Planning

Our main focus is on providing an holistic fee based financial planning service covering all aspects of your financial affairs. However, should you prefer, or require it, we can restrict our advice to addressing a specific area or transaction. We are also willing to provide a second opinion on advice that you might have received from another adviser. Where a matter is complex or involves significant sums the fee is likely to prove to be money well spent.

As a practice, we remain committed to encouraging clients to commit to undertaking regular reviews, thereby confirming the continued suitability of our advice and your existing arrangements in light of changes to your personal circumstances and objectives, the performance of current arrangements and changes to legislation

Our Process

During our initial meeting with a client we would seek to understand the scope of the exercise to be completed and we would explain the main components of our advice process. If required we would also provide an indication of the likely fee for completing the work. The main components of our advice process are :-

  • Agree the scope of the exercise to be completed and document this in a service agreement
  • Gather detailed information regarding your current personal circumstances and objectives
  • Where relevant, secure detailed information relating to each of your existing financial arrangements
  • Establish your tolerance to investment risk using a focused Profiling Questionnaire
  • Develop an initial financial plan taking into account your needs and objectives
  • If relevant, identify suitable new arrangements
  • Refine your plan through a process of discussion and prioritisation taking into account affordability, timescales etc
  • Document any advice and recommendations for future reference
  • Agree and implement your agreed plan
  • Agree a review procedure to monitor and update your strategy as required

Throughout this process Optima will establish and maintain full records on our system and will document any meetings that we have with you and any agreed actions to support the management of the exercise.

Our Advice

Everyone’s circumstances and requirements are different and there may be aspects of your financial affairs that require more in depth and specialist knowledge. These areas can include, but are not limited to, Inheritance Tax Planning, Pension Transfers, Pensions & Divorce, Investment Portfolio Reviews, Pre-Retirement Planning, Immediate Retirement Planning.

In our experience reviewing one aspect of a person’s financial circumstances will usually impact on other areas and generally result in a requirement to review a person’s overall position, an holistic review.  

At Optima, our advisers share a wealth of knowledge and experience and this ensures that a client will receive advice on all key financial planning matters and at a level appropriate to their requirements.

We always look for opportunities to work with a clients other advisers where this can deliver enhanced and better co-ordinated outcomes for a client.

Further Information

Full details of our fee based Personal Financial Planning service can be found in our Introductory Pack. Please contact us if you would like a copy.

Optima Financial Services Ltd
2 Bon Accord Square
Aberdeen
Scotland
AB11 6DJ

Phone: 01224 212 128
E-mail: enquiries@optima-fs.co.uk